Putin Accuses Pussy Riot Member Of Anti-Semitism

The cover of "Pussy Riot!", the e-book created to help support the band's legal defense team.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused a member of Pussy Riot of anti-Semetism during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel met with Putin to discuss human rights and trade deals between their countries. During the talks, Merkel questioned whether the sentence given to members of Pussy Riot, an anti-Putin punk rock band, were too hard. Putin responded by accusing the band of anti-Semitic actions.

"Does she know that before that, one of them had hung an effigy of a Jew and said Moscow needed to get rid of such people?” Putin asked Merkel and other delegates in a meeting.

A number of members Pussy Riot were arrested earlier this year and tried for staging a protest concert inside of a Moscow cathedral. Two members were sent to labor camps as part of their sentences.